U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Gregory Bovino arrives outside federal court in Chicago, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

On Tuesday, a federal judge ordered U.S. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino to meet with her daily in wake of heightened tensions between federal immigration agents and Chicago citizens.

U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis grilled Bovino to appear in court in Chicago on Tuesday about concerning behavior exhibited by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in recent days. One of the incidents involved Bovino himself throwing canisters of tear gas into a crowd of protesters in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood last week without warning, according to a Facebook live video. 

Using the Facebook video, along with Heartland Signal’s social media post about it, prosecutors said Bovino violated a temporary restraining order (TRO) Ellis filed on Oct. 17. The judge’s order restricted use of force by federal agents against protesters and states that ICE agents must give multiple verbal warnings before using it.

During the hearing, Ellis also remarked on an incident in the Old Irving Park neighborhood over the weekend, where a Halloween parade was canceled after ICE agents arrested three people and deployed tear gas.

During the hearing, Ellis also ordered Bovino to acquire and use a body camera by Friday, expressed the need for agents to clearly identify themselves and told Bovino to produce all use-of-force reports from agents involved in Operation Midway Blitz since Sept. 2. 

When Ellis demanded Bovino meet with her daily, multiple people in the courtroom laughed, according to WTTW’s Heather Cherone. Also, Cherone reported that Ellis is considering a request from the plaintiffs to ban the use of tear gas to “prevent additional extreme harm.” Lawyers for the government objected to the request, saying it would be “frankly dangerous” to prevent agents from using the riot control chemical. 

Federal ICE Changes

The hearing comes one day after reports of major changes to ICE leadership across the nation. The Trump administration removed or reassigned field office directors in several cities to be replaced by Border Patrol officials who will be hand-picked by Bovino, with the goal of increasing arrests and deportation numbers.

🚨BIG changes happening — ICE leadership is being purged tonight. The old guard, which prioritized targeted enforcement operations aimed at people with criminal records, is being replaced with Border Patrol and Gregory Bovino’s “Midway Blitz” style.

Think things are bad now? It’ll get worse.

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— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social) October 27, 2025 at 7:27 PM